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fermenting Yellow ferment

I had a bumper crop of aji lemon, aji mochero and few fatalii and decided to ferment them and hope to make yellow sauce. To a 5L bucket I added my chillies (about 250g), few cloves of garlic, some mixed peppercorns, piece of ginger and loads of pineapple. Topped it up with 3.6% brine and inoculated with some brine from my saurkraut...
 
chilli ferment.jpg

 
chilli ferment1.jpg
  
chilli ferment2.jpg

 
The plan is to let it ferment, blitz in a blender, strain and add vinegar to stabilise it. 
 
Does that seems like a good idea? 
 
This will be my first attempt at this type of ferment. Any comments are greatly appreciated. :)
 
Bold Badger Sauces said:
Curious how this turns out with all the ajis in it.  My aji sauce had a weird sort of sour tomato taste.  Totally different than my chinense sauces.
 
Hmm, I don't have any tomatoes in my ferment and hope it won't taste of them. The thinking here is that aji lemons and mochero flavour will be either complimented or enhanced by pineapple and ginger but can't say anything for sure.
 
I need to leave it for a while to ferment. One question: how does people know when the fermentation is over?
 
karoo said:
That looks great , the Aji Lemon does make a good sauce especially if you lift out the lemon flavours with lemon/lime juice and some lemon rind which you can add later after the ferment.
 
I was gonna add it now but didn't have unwaxed lemons to hand. That bucket is 5L and after the ferment I'm planning few different experiments - i.e. stabilising with vinegar or/and lemon juice and adding few things such as lemon peel to balance if need be.
 
Honey Badger said:
 
Hmm, I don't have any tomatoes in my ferment and hope it won't taste of them. The thinking here is that aji lemons and mochero flavour will be either complimented or enhanced by pineapple and ginger but can't say anything for sure.
 
I need to leave it for a while to ferment. One question: how does people know when the fermentation is over?
 
No tomatoes in mine either, that's just what the resulting sauce reminded me of.  If I make another aji sauce I think I'll not ferment it and see what that's like.  If you want to trade a bottle when yours is done let me know, I'd love to try it.
 
The bulk of the fermentation is usually done within a couple of weeks, I guess at lower temps it could take longer.  You'll know it's done when you stop seeing bubbles coming from the airlock.
 
Bold Badger Sauces said:
 
No tomatoes in mine either, that's just what the resulting sauce reminded me of.  If I make another aji sauce I think I'll not ferment it and see what that's like.  If you want to trade a bottle when yours is done let me know, I'd love to try it.
 
The bulk of the fermentation is usually done within a couple of weeks, I guess at lower temps it could take longer.  You'll know it's done when you stop seeing bubbles coming from the airlock.
 
No bubbles yet from the airlock... It's only been about 36h and is probably too early. I left just over an inch of space between weight plate and seal top.
 
Regarding trade bottles of sauce, I'm all for it but isn't it a bit prohibitive postage wise? I'm in London UK.
 
But let's see what it turns out like and if any good, let's look into it. :)
 
Looks interesting!  :dance:
 
I usually blend before starting the ferment, but this is based on nothing other than this was how I first did it and have done it ever since.
One time I made an Aji Pineapple sauce, it was cooked not fermented. It was great!
 
I'd be willing to do some trading if you're keen - it will be a bit easier between France and the UK / vice versa. Let me know via PM if things turn out.
 
nice.chili said:
Looks interesting!  :dance:
 
I usually blend before starting the ferment, but this is based on nothing other than this was how I first did it and have done it ever since.
One time I made an Aji Pineapple sauce, it was cooked not fermented. It was great!
 
I'd be willing to do some trading if you're keen - it will be a bit easier between France and the UK / vice versa. Let me know via PM if things turn out.
 
My reasoning behind fermenting large chunks vs blending it is because I find large chunks easier to keep submerged in brine. Smaller bits always find a way to float and get mouldy.
 
I don't think the flavour is any different but I may be wrong. 
 
Yeah - I can understand the thought process...
 
The issue of mould is something I'm missing... Don't get me wrong, I know why there might be mould, but I've yet to experience it. I very much doubt I'm living in a mould free bubble.
 
Normally I prepare everything, including suitable sanitation, then seal the jar up and wait (impatiently). I use glass Le Parfait jars and this makes things easy - I just put everything in the oven. Except for the rubber seal, which I boil in water prior to using. No airlock, just relying on the rubber seal to vent.
 
So basically, I don't know.  :think:
 
 
nice.chili said:
Yeah - I can understand the thought process...
 
The issue of mould is something I'm missing... Don't get me wrong, I know why there might be mould, but I've yet to experience it. I very much doubt I'm living in a mould free bubble.
 
Normally I prepare everything, including suitable sanitation, then seal the jar up and wait (impatiently). I use glass Le Parfait jars and this makes things easy - I just put everything in the oven. Except for the rubber seal, which I boil in water prior to using. No airlock, just relying on the rubber seal to vent.
 
So basically, I don't know.  :think:
 
 
These are my humble beginnings in fermenting so I'm taking every precaution I can. If I mashed it into a pulp it'll probably be alright but I just wanted to give myself every chance of avoiding contamination.
 
This thing is still in the bucket, I don't have a clue how it's doing. I have a small pouch with some cherry wood chips inside so I thought I can give it a while to sit in there but getting itchy to take a peek inside. :)
 
My vote is to take a look in - given approx. 6 weeks in.   :dance:
 
I'd also have hand a pH meter handy to see what level of acidity is in the sauce. A reduction to a level of 3.5-4.0 indicates that the lacto fermentation is working.
 
This sounds like a nice ferment! Almost like part 1 of a jerk sauce.
 
Part 2 is vinegar, scallions, allspice, and a blender. ;)
 
 
 
I may do it today or tomorrow.
 
I have a cheapo pH meter which I need to calibrate in order to measure pH correctly. Then, if everything is still fine in the bucket, I'll give it a taste and decide what would go well with it. Some extra acidity I presume which will be lemon juice and some lemon rind but let's not get ahead of myself. It could be covered with black mould for all I know. Hope not though. 
 
There's a good chance you won't have to add anything (lemon juice) for acidity, HB. Unless you wanted to add it for the flavor profile. There's a hefty dose of pineapple in there, which is pretty acidic on its own. Plus, the fermenting process will bring the pH down significantly. You're right though; see what the pH meter says ;)

Sounds like it's going to be a very tasty sauce!
Pineapple and ginger are a great combo :cheers:
 
MikeUSMC said:
There's a good chance you won't have to add anything (lemon juice) for acidity, HB. Unless you wanted to add it for the flavor profile. There's a hefty dose of pineapple in there, which is pretty acidic on its own. Plus, the fermenting process will bring the pH down significantly. You're right though; see what the pH meter says ;)

Sounds like it's going to be a very tasty sauce!
Pineapple and ginger are a great combo :cheers:
 
Thanks Mike, the ingredients are all there, it's down to me to make this into a decent product. The plan is to strain it all from the brine and blend it smooth. Have a taste and pH meter. Decide if it needs some lemon juice or rind for acidity and flavour and cook it to stop it fermenting further and get it shelf stable. Pack it into sterilised jars.
 
Does that seem like a way to go?
 
Honey Badger said:
Does that seem like a way to go?
Sure! Personally, I don't strain the brine out. Not saying that you can't! I just don't. I blend everything up, brine and all, then cook it down to the consistency that I like. Leave it a tad runnier that you'd like, after cooking it down, because it'll usually thicken up (just a bit) in the fridge
 
MikeUSMC said:
Sure! Personally, I don't strain the brine out. Not saying that you can't! I just don't. I blend everything up, brine and all, then cook it down to the consistency that I like. Leave it a tad runnier that you'd like, after cooking it down, because it'll usually thicken up (just a bit) in the fridge
 
I'll add brine after blending to dilute it to consistency I want and that is a little runnier than when finished because I don't want to cook it for too long in order to preserve as much flavour as possible. Or maybe I could have 2 batches? I could cook one longer with all the brine and see which one is better? After all, I have nearly 5 litres of stuff here. :D
 
Here we go!
 
yellow ferment2.jpg

 
I cut a piece of pineapple and it's absolutely amazing. What a lovely flavour, what a nice zingy sensation and the heat is just wonderful. Not too hot but enough for anybody with normal guts. I have nice tingly sensation in my mouth few minutes after tasting it.
 
I'm in process of making some destiled water to calibrate my pH meter then I'll get on with cooking this beauty. I'm really chuffed. :)
 
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